Pumpkin Walk provides alternative Halloween activity for everyone
More than 2,000 pumpkins were used this year to make scenes like The Grinch, Alice in Wonderland, and Trick-or-Treat Olympics come to life in the North Logan Pumpkin Walk.
“Go for the Orange” is this year’s theme and encompasses just about everything imaginable. Mary Ellen McKenna, chairwoman of the Pumpkin Walk Committee, said there will be everything from pumpkins carved with the 50 states to Mother Gooseland.
“We wanted the theme to be general enough that anything can happen” she said.
Mother Gooseland alone uses 300 pumpkins while the average display will use 50 to 100 pumpkins.
It all began 15 years ago with Ida and Wally Beautler and a few neighborhood kids who were caught destroying their decorations, McKenna said.
As punishment they had to help redecorate the Beautler home for Halloween. Ida would serve cookies and hot cider to the laboring help which became tradition and now Pepperidge Farm donates the cookies, she said.
By the second year, nearly 2,000 people showed up to see the great decorations and gradually it grew until the city of North Logan took over and now holds the event. An estimated 60,000 people are expected this year.
McKenna said it doesn’t matter what the weather does, people still come for the event.
This annual tradition is free to the public and held from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. until Oct. 31. Volunteers get together every year to create booths with pumpkins and other donated materials to display for the public.
“Their willingness to share their time and talent for others to enjoy is phenomenal,” McKenna said.
Anyone who wants to get involved in the project is invited she said. One way to find out how to help is to go online to www.pumpkinwalk.com or call North Logan City to get more information about next year’s Pumpkin Walk.
It takes a lot of time, people and donations to put this event together every year, she said.
When asked why she does this year after year, McKenna said, “In our lives we all want to feel important and want to make a difference. Seeing the faces of the people who come, you know you’ve made a difference and that you’re important to someone.”